Wind called large-scale flowsatmospheric gases moving in the same direction and, as a rule, at the same speed. In meteorology, the types of winds are primarily classified according to the direction of movement, speed, spatial scale, forces, their defiant, regional affiliation and environmental impact. These air currents play a very significant role in the life of mankind, since they have been a source of clean energy for many centuries and millennia (sailing fleet, balloons, windmills, etc.).
The types of winds also vary byduration. So, short flows lasting up to several seconds, having greater speed, are usually called gusts, and even stronger and more prolonged - squalls. Long winds may vary depending on the strength, direction, scale, and some other parameters, which are distinguished by breeze (coastal wind), storms, storms, hurricanes, typhoons, and others.
All types of winds have their own individualthe features by which meteorologists identify them. For example, the characteristic feature of a breeze is changing directions twice a day. Winds are not only short-term, they can be seasonal, that is, to be stable for several months. Such atmospheric phenomena include monsoons. And the trade winds in general are permanent and stable.
Virtually all types of winds are the most important andan integral part of the planet's ecosystem, a key relief forming factor for its geological evolution. They take an active part in the processes of soil formation, cause erosion of rocks, which significantly changes the surface of the planet. Air flow also carries the seeds of various plants, thereby contributing to their wider distribution.
The wind, being one of the most powerful elementsof our planet, has had a huge impact on all aspects of the development of human civilization. In many nations of the globe, the winds were cult or divine characters of mythology and epic, the main inspirations of poets and writers. Even in antiquity, when too much depended on the life of people on the manifestations of this element, a wind direction indicator was invented - a weather vane, the modern version of which is called an anemometer.
Often these atmospheric phenomena predeterminedhistorical events, expanded the range of trade relations and cultural exchange between the ancient countries. They were the driving forces of various mechanisms and inexhaustible sources of energy. Air currents allowed a person to first rise into the sky, without them the invention of a parachute would have no meaning. By the strength of their influence, the winds are comparable only with the energy of the Sun and the water element.
But, like any natural phenomenon, the winds are notonly progress and development, but also destruction and death. They contribute to the spread of forest fires, the excitement caused by them on reservoirs leads to the destruction of various hydraulic and other structures. Raging tornadoes and tornadoes are always accompanied not only by tremendous destruction, but also by human victims. With the impact of this climate effect is associated with such a dangerous natural phenomenon as sand storms.
But the wind is not strictly terrestrial atmosphericeffect. The largest winds in the solar system, which are a thousand times more powerful than their most destructive terrestrial counterparts, are fixed on the surface of the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter. In open space, its version of this powerful and extremely destructive element also rages - the solar wind, which is a gigantic and deadly stream of ionized radioactive particles. It is to him that we owe such a phantasmagoric phenomenon as the northern lights. Facing the earth’s magnetosphere near the poles, this extraordinarily powerful stream of solar radiation causes it to glow.
